Which Side Are You On
by GallagherGurl
Summary: She was unpredictable, selfish, yet incredibly intelligent... Kat Howard was a mystery to everyone she met and in a race against time it may be down to three people to ask, "which side are you on?" *canon until the half blood prince apart from chamber of secrets*
1. Chapter1

_"He's back"_

_"Voldemort's back"_

_Time seemed to stand still for a second, Harry's vision blurred as he looked upwards._

_Pounding filled his head, all he could hear was a faint screaming in the background. _

_Wait... who was screaming. All Harry new was that he had to help. Someone was hurt! Someone was going to die, he could feel it. Sirius! It must be Sirius. He could hear Sirius shouting for him. Yes! There he was running towards him! _

_But no... That's Hermione... "Harry you need to get up!" Then who was screaming... "Harry!"_

"Harry! Harry wake up!" Hermione shouted as Ron looked at Harry with concern, his head tilting slightly. "What! What happened," Harry whispered clinging to Hermiones arm as she softly held on to him "I heard someone screaming, I heard Sirius screaming!"

Hermione and Ron shared a look before glancing at Harry, sadness in their eyes. Hermione opened her mouth slightly to speak but choked up and only managed to grip Harry's arm tighter.

Ron spoke instead, "You were the one screaming mate" he scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably "we came back from the Prefect meeting and you were having a nightmare".

Harry slumped back into his seat, "Oh".

He stared down at his old converse, two sizes too big because they were hand-next-downs from his awful cousin.

Ron and Hermione continued to glance at each other and then back at Harry as he silently stared down, scraping his feet against the floor.

This summer had been one of the hardest yet for Harry Potter and that was a hard position to win...

Ever since Harry found out he was a wizard at the age of 11 his Aunt and Uncle had begun treating him even worse than usual. At least he didn't have to sleep under the stairs anymore though, a place he'd spent the first 11 years of his life but the constant bullying from his cousin Dudley hadn't stopped.

Every day Dudley and his goons would find a way of cornering him; leaving him with a new bruise every night. Teasing him about his nightmares...

His parents, Cedric, Sirius.

He'd lost too many people in only 16 years that Harry had started to retreat from everyone around him.

Sirius has been the closest thing he had to his parents and now even he was gone. For a second he had let himself imagine a life with his godfather, somewhere he could finally belong.

"Harry..." Hermione tentatively asked, "Are you okay?" Harry remained silent but looked up and instead turned to stare out the window of the train.

They were almost at hogwarts, a fact that should have filled Harry with joy but instead all he felt was numb. "I'm fine Hermione" Harry mumbled "It was just a nightmare". Sighing Harry turned and gave his two best friends a small smile "I'm okay, I promise".

The three best friends smiled tentatively at each other and slowly slipped into chatting about the last Chudley Cannons match, Ron excitedly telling Harry about Fred and George's bets and Hermione rolling her eyes, smiling softly. Harry's nightmare forgotten for a short time.

It had been 3 months since the battle at the Ministry and Harry had been having nightmares almost every night at the Burrow.

No one knew how to help him, Mrs Weasley smothered him constantly and Remus had all but retreated back into himself. Leaving Harry feeling more alone than ever.

Sirius has been the only proper family he had left and after seeing him fall through the veil Harry couldn't get it out of his head.

His scar had been hurting even more since the battle with Voldemort and Harry had the feeling that this year was going to be even more dangerous.

Most of the wizarding world had now excepted the reality that Voldemort had returned and because of it Dumbledore thought it was appropriate that the students at Hogwarts know how to defend themselves.

The trio found out early because Ron's dad worked at the ministry; Dumbledore had agreed to increase the amount of Defence against the dark arts lessons for students in 3rd year and above.

Ron found out that 5th year were going to have to learn how to withstand the imperious curse, something that Hermione desperately argued against and that they'd also have to fight a boggart again.

That one confused Harry a bit, they'd done that in 3rd year and I doubt it will help him much if he came face to face with Voldemort again...

Sighing Harry turned to gaze out the window of the carriage again as rain lightly pattered against it and the familiarity of travelling to hogwarts allowed the three friends to forget all that had happened that summer, if only for a while.

However Harry's nightmare still hung over the trio like a dark cloud, unpredictable and with the potential to strike at any moment.

———————————————————

To a normal student if they took a quick glance into compartment 24 of the hogwarts express they would see a group of three friends, laughing, joking and from Hermione's end occasionally rolling their eyes.

But if you were to stop for a second longer you'd catch a glimpse of something not quite right.

A boy shielding his face with his raven hair, not brushing it away when most people would have found it annoying. While green eyes scrunched up for a split second in pain as if from a persistent headache.

Another boy but this time ginger, making jokes to lighten the mood. Occasionally wincing when something he said hit a bit to close to home.

Finally a girl with bushy brown hair that seemed so confident and yet if you looked closer you would see the exhaustion in her eyes and the way she always tilted her body as if to protect the other two.

Most people would never stop long enough to witness those things, most people wouldn't decide there and then that they were going to become friends with this strange group but again those people weren't Kat Howard and she had already made up her mind...


	2. Chapter2

Slowly and deliberately I place one foot in front of the other as I follow the stream of students towards a convoy of black carriages. My robes brush along the ground, swirling like smoke among the grass.

I keep my eyes straight ahead only looking around to glance through my black hair at the people slowly filling separate carriages.

I've already analysed a lot of the other students while on the train but there are still a few that puzzle me. Wondering what houses everyone is in was my pass time during the journey but now that we're almost at the castle I'm actually feeling a bit scared, which house will I get picked for? Not hufflepuff or Gryffindor that's for sure.

I'm not good enough for either.

I see the two boys and a girl that were in one of the carriages on the train, my eyes catching that of the boy with the lightning scar.

Our matching emerald green eyes clash as he stares at me in confusion, his mouth quirking up into a lopsided smile before he almost trips over his oversized robes.

Yep, not that carriage I think to myself, letting out a small laugh and a smirk. Though it would have been fun to tease him a bit on the way up to the castle. I hear the girl chastising him with shouts of "Harry!" Behind me.

I continue to laugh as I walk passed another carriage where a tall platinum haired boy is currently glaring at me. His skin was almost as pale as his hair; giving him an almost ghostly look and the way he held himself pratically exuded a confidence that was not bred from talent but from being brought up to look down on those he thought below him.

His once attractive features are pulled back in disgust as the words "mud blood" slithers past his lips, so quiet I would have missed them if I had not already been expecting them.

I knew the boys' name, Draco Malfoy, I knew all of them, the whole family. The pure bloods who thought people like me were worthless.

I continued to walk. Not faltering once.

I breath a sigh of relief as I finally reach a carriage occupied only by a waifish little girl who introduces herself as Luna.

Luna is stroking one of the horses strapped to the carriage when I silently walk up to her resting my hand next to hers.

"Oh hello" she exclaims in a dreamy voice before hugging me unexpectedly and then preceded to wave her hands around in front of my startled face. "Sorry it's the nargles, they seem to like you an awful lot".

I grab her hands firmly but not unkindly and slowly pull them down. "Well yes the nargles around here do seem very energetic today; I'm Kat" I reply slightly sarcastically, the girl as her grey eyes light up, obviously missing my tone of voice. She takes my hand lightly, a stark contrast to the way I had taken hers, and pulls me into the carriage.

"I can tell already that we're going to be very good friends" Luna says seriously, staring into my eyes unnervingly "as you seem like just the person who should read..." I blink at her as she begins to pull clothes out of her trunk, just tossing them on to the floor of the carriage. "The Quibbler!".

"Um what exactly is the Quibbler?" I implore, wondering if it's too late to find another carriage, just as we begin moving.

Sitting back defeated I turn my eyes to Luna who has finally found what she was looking for, a magazine like item with the words Quibbler scribbled across the front page. "The Quibbler is the magazine my dad edits of cause" Luna says shaking her dirty blonde hair as if this is a fact that I obviously must know already. "How can you not know the Quibbler?"

"My parents are muggles"

"Ooh so that means you don't really know about hogwarts then!"

"Well no, I only found out I was a witch a few weeks ago"

Luna's eyes furrow for a second, "But your 16, how come you only just got your letter"

"Dumbledore says that no one knows why, that there must be some sort of explanation for it"

"But Dumbledore knows everything..."

"No one can know everything..."

"Well I suppose you're right, Dumbledore isn't God after all"

I watched Luna as she talked, my eyebrows slightly raised. This girl was a bit crazy. But also really beautiful in a ethereal way, almost like a pixie. The curls of her hair reached far past her shoulders, yet you could see that if straightened it would have been much longer. Her skin almost as pale as Malfoy's did not have the same sickly look to it but instead seemed to glow pink and gave her a healthy blush.

"Well! Tell me more about you! We've never had a student join so late at hogwarts before"

Leaning back I relaxed, I could tell this was going to be a very long journey.

"Well what do you want to know?"

"Any siblings? What about your parents?"

I smirked slightly while imagining having a sibling, I wouldn't have minded a little sister.

"No siblings fortunately and my parents are... well we have a bit of a difficult relationship" I muttered scowling slightly.

"I love my parents but they are such a stereotypical perfect couple that they never really had time for me, I was just stuck at home with only the library to explore."

"Well at least you have both of them" Luna replied slightly more subdued than she had been before.

I didn't miss her sudden change in mood but instead remembered that Luna had been one of the only students that had been able to see the Thestrals. It wasn't hard to put two and two together.

I gave her a small smile, that for once wasn't forced. "Your right, I should be more greatful".

"What about you? What is are your- what's your dad like?"

Luna's brow furrowed slightly and I new instantly that I shouldn't have asked but instead she surprised me be replying.

"My dad is the best, I'm always helping him with the Quibbler and we just planted a new plum tree! Dirigible plums are just the best aren't they!" She said shaking her head energetically, her curly hair writhing around her head giving her a crazy cat lady kind of look.

Smiling slightly I nodded along. Not letting her see that I had noticed how she avoided talking about her mum.

"But my mum is... isn't alive anymore. My dad really misses her" Luna murmured her icy blue eyes flashing with concealed tears. "It was a really long time ago but he hasn't forgotten her".

Neither have you I thought, wondering whether I should comfort her in some way. Instead I just said "I know what it's like to lose someone".

Luna stared at me for a second. "Is that why you can see the Thestrals as well?"

"Yeah I guess so, they're quite beautiful aren't they".

Luna and I glanced at each other, an unspoken agreement, and then lapses into a comfortable silence. We only have a few minutes to the castle anyway so I settled in and chose to watch the flicker of candle light from the castle windows as they blinked down at the precession of carriages.

—

"Crabbe! Goyle!" Malfoy snapped glaring at his friends, "Stop acting like idiots". The carriage went silent, Pansy and Theo stared at Malfoy as if he'd grown another head. Malfoy had always joined in with their teasing of the new first year students. However when Malfoy offered no explanation, instead choosing to glare out the window, they chose to ask him what he thought of the new girl. Pansy scowled as Malfoy said, "She's pretty i'll give her that" but it soon dissolved in to a smirk, "But I could practically smell the mudblood stink from the carriage!"

Malfoy returned to glaring out the window of the carriage, his finger tracking the raindrops as if they were tears he was trying to wipe away.

"She'll never be a Slytherin that's for sure"


	3. Chapter3

Malfoy was angry. Angry at the mystery that was Kat Howard. She hadn't even flinched when he'd called her a mudblood. A much different reaction to that know-it-all Granger.

Malfoy hated to admit it to himself but Granger was the most intelligent in their year. Should have been sorted into Ravenclaw instead of bloody Gryffindor but she always was so annoyingly self-righteous.

Wondering what house the new girl was going to be in was currently Malfoy's chosen activity, while he continued to watch her chatting with that absolute nut case Luna Lovegood.

His father had told him all about the Howard family, bunch of muggles the lot of them, a waste of space he'd said. Because of his father's position in the ministry Malfoy knew all about the students at hogwarts and their families, which ones were from great pure blood lines and which were the worst kind of blood traitors.

His father said that the Weasleys were the worst, blood traitors and simpathisers all of them.

His thoughts drifted back to Kat though, her black waist length hair cascaded in curls down her back, untidy but beautiful. As she stood waiting to be sorted he watched as she twirled her wand between her fingers her eyes scanning the room.

Their eyes met for a split second but hers glossed straight past him. Like he was insignificant.

A Malfoy! Insignificant!

He could barely see her from where he sat at the Slytherin table but the bright green of her eyes were unmistakeable and curiously intelligent.

They were oddly feline, turned up slightly at the edges and they stood out violently against the smooth ochre of her skin.

By this time all the students were making their way into the castle, through the entrance hall and towards their own house tables. All except one.

"Kat Howard!" Called McGonagall after sorting the first years.

Kat Howard, Malfoy scowled again, could she have a more muggle name. His father had always told him that you could tell a lot about a person by their name. Whether they were rich or poor, kind or cruel and most importantly pureblood or not.

Maybe Hufflepuff? No. Judging by the way she acted like she already ruled the school she was sure to be a Gryffindor. Who knows, she'll probably end up making a shiny new Golden Quartet.

—

I stared blankly out at the hall as I sat on the rickety stool, the hat being placed gently on my head.

_"Katrina, I've been wondering when you would arrive"._

_I didn't jump, I'd been expecting the sorting hat to speak to me._

_"Hmm now this is a difficult one but I can rule out hufflepuff, your much too rude for them"_

_"Hay!" Wow whose the rude one now._

_"Slytherin or Gryffindor, complete opposites and yet more similar than they know..."_

_"Oh God no please not Gryffindor, I can't deal with the amount of idiots in that house" I think, seeing the ginger boy making faces at Harry. _

_"No, I agree, no Gryffindor" _

_I could swear the hat was laughing, if talking hats could even do that..._

_"You could do well in Slytherin you know, they would lead you to greatness, your thirst for power and control makes it a almost perfect fit"_

_"Almost perfect?"_

_"I think that you would use any means to achieve your ends and yet their is a part of you that remains curious. You see everything so clearly, the bad but also the good. You are able to see the beauty and destruction a person is capable of..."_

_"Wait but what does that me-"_

_"Better be **Ravenclaw!**"_

The whole hall began clapping but no one clapped as loudly as the Ravenclaw table. I could see Luna smiling up at me from where she sat half way down the table. After handing the hat back to McGonagall I slowly descended the stairs. Luna and two other girls were frantically waving at me so I made my way towards where they were. The first was desperately trying to reach the apple crumble across the table but couldn't, as the second had grabbed it and was now in the process of eating it while mocking her with her eyes. The girl currently holding the crumble had beautiful coffee skin and her pin straight hair was pulled to the crown of her head in a ponytail. However what I noticed first was the light brown birthmark spattered across the left side of her face. Almost like little patches of cloud; it lay just under her eye and crept up onto the bridge of her nose.

I sat down slowly next to Luna and the other girls; who introduced themselves as Padma Patil and Mandy Brocklehurst. Unlike Padma, Mandy's hair was wavy and soft, cropped just past her shoulders and parted in the middle. She smiled at me as soon as our eyes met, her brows raising slightly over her honey coloured irises. Almond shaped eyes that slightly turned at the edges and a small button nose gave her an innocent look but I could already tell wasn't true. As I observed her she went back to pleading Padma to give her the crumble, apparently it was the only thing that had gotten her through the train ride.

"So..." Mandy whispered, smirking, "you must be interesting if you've managed to snag Draco Malfoy already". Mandy nodded her head in the direction of the Slytherin table obviously.

Luna and Padma turned, following her vision, towards where Malfoy was very staring. His eyes were narrowed as if trying to analyse me. _Probably thought I'd be in Gryffindor. _

I held his gaze almost challenging him to look away first and he did. Angrily clenching his fist against the hard wood table.

But he pulled back sharply when Dumbledore announced the beginning of the feast, piles and piles food magically appeared. I gasped my eyes lighting up like everyone else's as I glanced down the table at plates of food filled to the brim and practically spilling out onto the benches.

After a few minutes of getting to know Mandy and Padma, as well as digging in to a lovely steak pie, I'd realised that Mandy definitely fancied herself a bit of a rebel. She was over the top and brash, sometimes scaring the new first years when she suddenly launched into a tale of her escapades over the summer.

Padma, though, was a lot more subdued. She laughed along as Mandy told her stories, occasionally adding her own point of view. Mandy and Padma had spent half the summer at Mandy's house in Hong Kong. Padma told me a lot about all the parties Mandy had dragged her along to.

I could tell they were extremely close by the way Padma smiled when ever she glanced at Mandy and the way Mandy would glance back as soon as she had looked away. Honestly I wondered if there was something more there but I didn't push it.

"So..." Padma giggled, much the same way Mandy had at the beginning of dinner, "it seems you have more than one admirer".

Because I was facing towards her I turned my head towards the Gryffindor table behind me. Where the the same trio of friends were sat staring at me, the girl and the ginger boy obviously whispering about me.

"You know who that is right?" Asked Padma, inclining her head towards the boy with the lightning scar.

"Yes, I know who he is, the great Harry Potter" Harry must have heard me because he flushed bright red and quickly whipped back round.

Mandy sighed "you'd think as the saviour of the wizarding world he'd have a bit more talent with the ladies".

"He was exactly the same when he had a crush on Cho Chang" she pointed down the Ravenclaw table at a girl with pitch black hair almost like mine. "They dated for a while last year".

_Hmm interesting, that Cho girl doesn't really look like she'd go for someone like Harry. Harry on the other hand does seem like the type for a unrequited crush. _

I glance back round at the Gryffindor table but this time instead of Harry I meet the eyes of the girl sitting next to him.

"Whose the girl, the one sat next to Harry" I ask Padma, Mandy was currently trying to convince Luna that she could definately snag a cute Hufflepuff in the year above.

"Oh that's just Hermione Granger" Padma replied still eating. "Her and the ginger one, Ron Weasley have been friends with Harry since first year".

That Hermione girl still hadn't looked away, her eyes narrowed in distrust at me.

_I wonder what it is she thinks I've done, I've barely just arrived at Hogwarts. _

I can tell she's not as innocent as she seems, much like Mandy, but with this girl there was something more. She brushed the coils of her hair away from her face and continued to stare back at me.  
I can tell she's the detective type, always looking for some puzzle to solve. I wonder why she wasn't put in Ravenclaw.

Never one to back down from a challenge I found myself in the second stare off of the day but this time I lost. Hermione didn't falter once.

"Well, I'm going to have to figure out what's up with that one but for now I'd quite like to try some of that chocolate pudding"

Mandy, Padma and Luna all laughed and we went back to talking; mostly about the Ravenclaw Common Room, something I can't wait to see.

—

I know the chapters are short right now but they will get longer soon. Promise :)


	4. Chapter4

—-

This is just what I, personally, imagined Ravenclaw tower to be like

—

After dinner Luna had led my up to Ravenclaw Tower and we were now trying to come up with an answer to the password, which just happens to always be a riddle. _Yay for me!_

**I am sometimes white and always wrong**

**I can break a heart and hurt the strong,**

**I can build love or tear it down,**

**I can make a smile or bring a frown. **

Luna was skipping back and forth, just saying any random word that came to mind. _At this rate we'll be stuck out here for hours._

White... a pearl. Can break a heart? Cheating? _Yeah no._

_What can make someone happy or sad?_

_A lie._

"Luna I know what it is" I sighed turning to her.

Luna immediately perked up and skipped towards the door. "Well come on then, say it!"

"The answer is a lie".

The ivory door slowly opened into a dark corridor. "Well done" said the brass doorknob "welcome to hogwarts".

"Thanks..." I muttered, just glad to have actually made it into the common room; but my annoyance didn't last long...

"Woah..."

"It's beautiful isn't it" Luna replied skipping further into the common room.

I'd read about the different houses before coming to hogwarts but I'd never imagined this...

Hundreds upon thousands of books lined the walls of the circular room. Towering so high you could barely see the top; the shelves were decorated with silver swirls in a way that looked as if it had been painted by the students themselves.

There were small groups of tables dotted around the floor, students worked in silence or in hushed whispers, their faces illuminated by lanterns hung low above them. Although it was dark the whole room seemed to glow with life, the lanterns fell from the rafters, dripping down like joyous tears.

As I walked slowly into the room it seemed to unfold in front of my eyes. Intricate carpets hugged the wall, blues and lilacs of every shade and tone imaginable.

Balconies overlooked the ground and fireplaces crackling softly in the background, a portrait of a beautiful young lady hung above the largest one.

The room practically exuded talent and potential. So many inquisitive minds, so many possibilities. Everywhere someone was doing something.

Sketches of planets and stars and galaxies sprawled across the walls. There must be a piano somewhere close because I could hear the faint sound of music in the background...

But the most stunning part was that which I only saw as I reached the centre of the common room.

Slowly I tilted my head back, eyes closed as I took in the light shining down on me. Smiling I opened them slowly as what looked almost like snowflakes floated down from the air.

However up close I could see that they were in fact tiny stars, suspended as if they were frozen in time. As if they were real stars falling from the life-like night sky strewn across the ceiling.

"It's gorgeous" I whispered to Luna, as if not to disturb the working students. "I'm honestly speechless"

Luna nodded as she too looked around the room, "I have never gotten used to it either"

She pointed towards a spiral staircase at the far end of the common room. "Do you want to see the dorms now?"

"Yeah in a second. I was just wondering who that women is in the painting" I said, instead pointing towards the painting above the mantle place of the largest fireplace.

The frame looked as if it was pure gold, gilded and sculpted to perfection. It's beauty almost as impressive as that of the woman depicted in its painting.

Luna eyes followed to where I was pointing, "That's Rowena Ravenclaw, the founder of the house" Luna smiled at me before continuing "she does visit the other paintings from time to time but she says she prefers it here".

"I can see why" I replied laughing but in my head I was thinking how beautiful Rowena's diadem was.

_It is said to be lost but has anyone ever actually tried to find it?_

"Let's go see the dorms now" Luna decided, startling me slightly as I'd not realised how fast time had past. The welcome feast had gone on for a long time and paired with how long it had taken us to solve the riddle it was now almost 10 o'clock.

She led me up the stairs and along a well lit corridor, past door after door after door. Until we finally arrived our dormitory.

As soon as I opened the door I was immediately assailed by Mandy.

"Kat! Finally! What the hell have you two being doing for the last hour?"

"We couldn't work out the riddle" I laughed without smiling, backing quickly away from Mandy. She didn't seem to notice though so I continued talking "and then Luna was telling about the portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw".

"Oh yes, it is very beautiful, isn't it" Padma chimed in from where she was lying across her bed.

Mandy ran back towards me again but this time grabbed my hand instead. She pulled me towards the only free bed and showed me where my trunk was.

Luna and I were sharing a room with both Padma and Mandy. The beds were evenly spaced around another circular room, medium sized four poster beds with lovely teal quilts strewn across them. If you looked to the far side the dorm there was a small window cracked open, letting crisp air waft in.

My bed was perfectly made, extremely clean compared to Mandy's which seem to have more clothes piled on it than were actually in her trunk. Posters of quidditch stars swarmed over the wall behind her bed, players flying through the moving photos in what looked like a high stakes game, the crowd cheering silently in the backround.

In contrast Padma's sides of the room was so neat it looked as if it hadn't been slept in in years. Beautifully embroidered cushions lined each end of the bed, Padma had told me that her parents had sent them to both her and her sister as christmas presents.

To the left of each of the beds sat a carved wooden table, so small in size that Padma could barely fit the many different perfume bottles cluttered on hers. Large bottles, thin vases and carefully crafted glass containers were filled with all manner of liquids. From swirling golds to deep emeralds the bottles looked more like potions than anything else.

However the most peculiar was that of Luna's, piles of books balanced precariously around her bed; sketches and notes about magical creatures were pinned to the walls. I walked over and sat down, turning to look at the cover of a book Luna had left partly open next to me.

_Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them_

I flicked through the pages of the book, strange looking creatures flashing across my eyes, manticores and kelpies and mermaids and thestrals. Most of the animals i had never even heard of and some of the pictures unsettled me as the dark eyes of monsters peered out through the pages.

"That's one of my favourite books" Luna told me as she came to sit on the bed as well "you can have if you want, I have another copy at home".

I smiled, surprised, "wow no ones ever done something that nice for mebefore".

Luna and I looked up as Padma and Mandy came to sit on the floor in front of the bed. Padma grabbed one of her lilac cushions from the other side of the room and Mandy wrapped a blanket around her shoulders, leaning her head on Padmas' shoulder.

"So Kat, tell us all about what Muggle school is like!" Mandy whispered looking up at me expectantly.

"Ooh yes! Was it fun, did you have computers" Palmer practically shouted, bouncing up and down and causing Mandy to smack her lightly on the shoulder.

"Well I went to a small school until I was 15" I said slowly "but then I dropped out and I've been working in London ever since, Muggle school really isn't that exciting".

"You dropped out of school" Padma half whispered, half shouted, glaring at me disapprovingly.

"Your so lucky my parents would never let me do that!" Mandy sighed in annoyance falling back dramatically.

I looked over at Luna expecting to see a similar reaction but she just smiled at me. "Why did you want to leave school?" She asked softly not taking her eyes off me.

"I guess I just already knew what I wanted to do and school was just getting in the way of that. But when I found out that I had magic. And that there was a school for that, I just had to come" I replied calmly.

By the time I finished answering Luna, Mandy and Padma had already resorted back to gossiping about the boys but in particular Draco Malfoy. I suddenly felt miles away from the conversation, so instead I gazed down at Luna's book in my lap. I had been folding back the corner of a random page without even realising it, so I closed the book and traced my finger down the outside. Gently I laid it flat and the gold outline of a gorgeous drawing shone back. It was beautifully sad, a flurry of red plumage and an elegant beak, with a single tear dripping from it's eye.

_•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••_

"Okay, I'm going to brush my teeth now" I sighed after repeatedly trying to get away from Mandy's prying questions for about an hour. Quickly I padded over to our shared bathroom and finally shut the door behind me.

The silence was suffocating. It was if the girls had suddenly disappeared, and I thought to myself that if I just stayed in here I could almost imagine the world didn't exist. All there was was me and the cracked mirror in front of me. The crack was small. Almost invisible. Barely noticeable. Spliting my face in half like the two sides of a moon. The harsh golden light that hung from the ceiling making my face look translucent in the darkness. Everything at this school was strange, everyone here seemed completely blind to everything happening around them. Mandy and Padma were caught up in there little bubble of boys and parties and Luna was amazingly naive. But in a way that's what made me like them, they were still hopeful.

I didn't really recognise myself as I stood silently in front of the silver basin. As I reached out my hands to turn on the tap I watched as the girl in the mirror glanced down. Her green eyes seemed suddenly exhausted, her black hair lacking life and instead dangling around her neck like a rope.

I stared harder into the mirror, my hands gripping the basin, fingers turning white, and for a split second I could swear I saw a flash of green in the corner of my eye. Shaking my head I sighed deeply, _what is wrong with you Kat, keep it together._

_It's just your eyes playing tricks on you remember. _

_You're not crazy._


	5. Chapter5

It's the first day of lessons today and I'm actually quite excited. At my old school I'd hated getting up early to go, I never did like being told what to do. But at Hogwarts it's different and especially this year because of the extra DADA lessons.

The headmaster had explained at the welcome dinner that after the public return of Voldemort the ministry had finally agreed to give students in third year and above, proper training in defence.

The classes were three times a week and were made up of a mix of all the houses. _This should be fun._

This morning I've had potions with Snape but my favourite class so far has definitely got to be Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. McGonagall had told me at the end of the class that when she first joined Hogwarts the sorting hat had considered putting her in Ravenclaw so she always had a bit of a soft spot for the students in my house.

The DADA lessons for sixth years are being run by Professor Lupin, something I couldn't understand. I'd been told before coming to Hogwarts that he was a werewolf, so shouldn't he be on the side of the dark lord? What have these wizards ever done for him?

Walking to the classroom was taking longer than expected but eventually I entered the corridor that Luna had told me to meet her in. "Kat hurry up, the lesson is about to start!" Luna shouted down the empty corridor at me. Speeding up slightly I followed her into the classroom where there was only one seat left, next to the one and only Hermione Granger. "Nice of you to actually turn up" she commented under her breath, her book and quill already laid out on her side of the desk. I couldn't even bother to reply to that, if she wanted to be rude I could play that game as well.

The mood dropped as soon as Professor Lupin walked in the room. Everyone knew about what happened last year, in the Ministry of magic. No one talked about it but things have changed. Even the Gryffindors didn't mess around in lessons anymore, the Slytherins didn't start any fights, everyone seem to understand that the world around them was changing.

Professor Lupin laid his case on the desk and stayed leaning on it with his hands for a few seconds, glancing around the classroom. "You all know why you're here, so if you listen to me in these few lessons I have been licensed by the ministry to give you, maybe you will be prepared for when you leave the safety of these walls." Lupin walked slowly around to the front of his desk as he was saying this. "I'm not going to hold anything back in these lessons so my first question for you is arguably something that you need to know. What would you do if you came in contact with an unforgivable curse."

Silence.

Unimpressed, "How about one of you tell me what you know about the Imperious curse." This time there were a few hesitant hands raised and one of them was just in the corner of my eye, "Miss Granger".

"The imperious curse when cast successfully, places it's victim completely under the caster's control. This makes it unique among the unforgivable curses, as it is the only one of them with a known method of resistance. The curse's incantation is Imperio." Hermione stated calmly despite her hands slightly gripping the desk. Professor Lupin nodded slowly as she spoke and after Hermione finished he gave a short sweep of the class. "Thank you Miss Granger, on all accounts you are correct." A short pause. "However be wary of reducing dangerous magic such as this to text book terms, in war nothing is neat and easy to memorise." Hermione sank slightly in her seat and I could tell she wasn't very used to being called out by a teacher.

Lupin then sat on the steps at the front of the class, the small ones that lead up to his desk. "You were right Miss Granger, to say that the Imperious Curse is the only one of the Unforgivables that you have any hope of fighting."

Silence again.

"Fighting!" Malfoy shouted out before looking around embarrassed however there were soon other members of every house protesting loudly. "Calm, please!" Lupin asked, raising his voice to be heard over the cacophony in the classroom. "Dumbledore has given me permission to teach you this, as he feels it is vital to your education in these times and I agree." The class has now gone silent as everyone waited to see what he would say next. "So in our lesson tomorrow I am going to ask a few volunteers to attempt to fight off my Imperious curse, it will be for a short time and I promise you no harm will be caused." Waiting for anymore opposition the Professor paused. _This is quite interesting, I've always wondered what the Imperious curse felt like. _"Now if that is okay with you all I think I will continue my lesson", in front of me Ron and Harry glanced at each other. Ron shrugged as I imagine he thought he would be able to shoulder the curse, _I think not_. Harry on the other hand gulped noticeably before turning back to the front.

Lupin made his way to the chalk board on the right of his desk and without turning to the class asked "Can anyone tell me about the Cruciatus curse?", the temperature in the room seemed to drop through the floor and it was back to silence. Even I didn't want to answer this one and maybe he sensed my hesitance as with his back to me Lupin called out "Kat".

I swallowed hard, fear getting stuck in my throat before I forced it down, leaving it to rot in my stomach. "It is the torture curse, causing mental pain rather than physical injury" I recited coldly, knowing that the professor would be disappointed by my lack of information. Predictably Lupin turned towards me, for the first time and I could properly see the light pink scars criss-crossing his face. "Please provide more information for the class Kat" he asked kindly but from the back of the class came "Unless you don't know mudblood", I whipped round, Malfoy sneered at me from the back row. _Typical. _

Gritting my teeth I gripped the table, before letting go and taking a short breath. "The curse inflicts excruciating pain on its victim and makes it impossible to move. It feels as if white hot knifes are slashing through your body and your mind and although you may try, you will not be able to prevent yourself from screaming."

For the third time today silence descended like a shroud across the room, I stared back at Lupin with my expression cold and bitter. I'd done a lot of staring today I realised; maybe it's because you can tell the most about a person through the way they look at you and right now Lupin was regarding me with something even I couldn't recognise.

The bell had rung and no one had noticed.

As if from a trance everyone shock themselves awake and life continued as normal. Perhaps that moment will have been important but for now Professor Lupin thanked us all for the lesson and told me he was very impressed with the depth of my knowledge. As I was packing up my notebook Hermione just sat there before finally asking how I knew all that if I was muggle born. "The same way as you" I replied.

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I've edited chapters 2-4 so some more important information has been added/changed


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